Forum for Candidates
Candidates for County Controller and City Controller Respond to Questions about Poverty and Homelessness Just Harvest, together with some of our partner organizations, developed a set of questions—about key issues of hunger and poverty --- for local candidates in the May 15 Primary Election. We held a Candidates’ Forum at the Hill House on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 which candidates for county Executive and City Controller attended. They had the opportunity, there, to discuss these questions with the audience. Thank you to Hill House Association for graciously providing us with the space to hold this event. Incumbent Mayor Luke Ravnestahl, did not attend. Questions for Combating Hunger and Poverty- 2007 Just Harvest, the Allegheny County Homelessness Alliance, and Mental Health Association, Allegheny County/Let our Voices Be Heard Candidates for County Executive: Question 1: How will you insure that Pittsburghers- and especially poor Pittsburghers and people with disabilities- do not lose their public transit, and why should people with low incomes vote for you? Question 2: In your economic development projects so far, how many jobs have been provided for low-income people, and at what wage levels? Question 3: Affordable housing in the downtown area is extremely limited. What plans are there to integrate affordable housing units in the redesign of the downtown area? Question 4: There isn't enough affordable housing. What would be your plan to increase and preserve affordable housing units and would you lead this afford? Would you consider rehabilitating abandoned buildings, factories, closed schools, etc. for housing for the homeless? Would you consider using fair wage labor pools from the homeless population to accomplish this task? Question 5: The Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded program for children during the summer months. What will you do to increase sites in Allegheny County where children can eat summer meals? Will you support this program by opening at least five new sites in the next year? Specifically, how will you do this? Candidates for City Controller: Question 1: Please describe what a city controller does Question 2: What actions will you offer, as Controller, that would convince people at or near the poverty level to vote for you? Candidates for County Executive Question 1: How will you insure that Pittsburghers- and especially poor Pittsburghers and people with disabilities- do not lose their public transit, and why should people with low incomes vote for you? Dan Onorato Public transit is critical to thousands of County residents, and I'm committed to saving transit. I'm the first elected official in two decades to take on outrageous costs at Port Authority. I've appointed new board members and new executive directors who share my goals of reducing management costs, rightsizing service, identifying dedicated funding, and correcting union costs. We've already implemented changes to reduce management costs and taken steps to right size service. I'm working with legislators to identify dedicated funding for Port Authority-all of which will be used for service. Finally, I've asked the County Controller to audit Port Authority. I've focused County resources on increasing economic growth and assisting distressed areas. We're cleaning old industrial sites and returning jobs to them in areas like McKeesport, Swissvale and Braddock, and we're building affordable housing in places like Homestead, Clairton and North Braddock. We recently opened the first grocery store in Wilkinsburg in decades, as well as housing for the homeless. I also launched an effort to construct 10 community centers in distressed areas. To date, centers have opened in McKees Rocks, Rankin, Duquesne, Stowe, Robinson and Millvale. We're providing these communities with critical recreational, education and human service programs. Richard (Rick) Swartz We need to help the body politic in Allegheny County understand that public transit is what connects hundreds of thousands of people every day to all that is critical in their lives, and that the solution for a dedicated source of funding is very likely to come out of their pockets. I want to be careful that it not be viewed as a welfare program. If we make the needs of low-income people our paramount concern, then that will very likely happen. Publicly-operated transit is a necessity for workforce and economic development. Publicly-supported transit is a system that all classes rely upon, and, thus, all classes are going to have to play a part in the solution to its funding crisis. One thing is for certain: no area of the county, regardless of who lives there, should be without transit service, and I would make that the hallmark of my policy. Low-income people would be casting a vote for someone who has worked on many of the problems that dog their lives if they were to vote for me. Over the last 28 years, my organization, the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, has built affordable housing; attacked predatory lending; sustained a job placement service in the community for unemployed persons; placed low-income teens and young adults in real, part-time jobs; delivered after-school programs to elementary and secondary-school students; fought to reduce crime in all of its forms; started collaborations with local hospitals that have brought medical, dental, and wellness programs into the public schools; supported structured recreation programs for hundreds of children annually; helped people with the filing of their federal tax returns; and supported an alternative sentencing project in Garfield for repeat, but non-violent, juvenile offenders. Question 2: In your economic development projects so far, how many jobs have been provided for low-income people, and at what wages level? Dan Onorato I believe the role of County government should be facilitating development opportunities and letting the private sector create jobs. For example, many of the old industrial sites along our rivers have sat idle and polluted for decades, and the private sector has not been willing to undertake their cleanup. With help from the state, Allegheny is cleaning hundreds of acres of polluted sites and returning them to viable economic and recreational uses. Likewise. we are putting in basic infrastructure-roads, sewer lines and water lines-in thousands of acres of land around Pittsburgh International Airport. The private sector then creates thousands of jobs for all wages and skills levels. Question 3: Affordable housing in the downtown area is extremely limited. What plans are there to integrate affordable housing units in the redesign of the downtown area? Dan Onorato Allegheny County will continue to pursue funding and be aggressive with the city and state to create affordable housing Downtown Pittsburgh. Question 4: There isn't enough affordable housing. What would be your plan to increase and preserve affordable housing units and would you lead this effort? Would you consider rehabilitation abandoned buildings, factories, closed schools, ect. for housing for the homeless? Would you consider using fair wage labor pools from the homeless population to accomplish this task? Dan Onorato Allegheny County has been at the forefront in working to reduce homelessness. Earlier this year, we were awarded a $12 million Continuum of Care grant by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to provide essential programs, safe havens, transitional housing, and permanent support to homeless individuals and families. This grant award is yet another sign of the progress we've made on our 10-year plan to end homelessness. In 2005, we set out to create 1,000 housing units in 10 years. In the last three years alone, we have nearly 2,000 units that have been completed or are under construction. To achieve these results, we have rehabilitated lots of other structures to use for affordable housing. Among the areas we have been focusing on are Wilkinsburg, Homestead, Clairton, Rankin, Braddock, North Braddock and Duquesne. If re-elected, I will continue my efforts to add additional units of affordable housing throughout our County. I would consider using fair wage labor pools from the homeless population as we continue to expand the amount of affordable housing in Allegheny County. This could be an effective a way to provide jobs and training to homeless individuals. Question 5: The Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded program for children during the summer months. What will you do to increase sites in Allegheny County where children can eat summer meals? Will you support this program by opening at least five new sites in the next year? Specifically, how will you do this? Dan Onorato Allegheny County has significantly increased the number of Child and Adult Care Feeding Program sites in the last three years - serving four times the number of children since the program's inception in 2002. We also offer a Summer Food program that serves nearly 5,000 children 18 years of age and younger who live in qualifying economically disadvantages communities in Allegheny County outside the City of Pittsburgh. More than 120 communities designated a site where children can enjoy a free breakfast and engage in recreational activities. We are looking to expand the number of sites. but they must be operated efficiently and effectively to meet the qualifications of our program. In addition to the after school and summer programs, the County, in cooperation with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, helps to provide nutritious supplements to 3,000 residents each mouth. We have also provided more than $1.5 million dollars in Community Development Block Grants to the Food Banks, Just Harvest, and other community agencies that tackle this issue. Candidates for Pittsburgh City Controller Question 1: Please describe what a city controller does. Tony Pokora The City Controller's Office is the accounting & auditing arm of the City. We keep the books, issue the checks, and our auditors check the performance, efficiency, & fiscal results of Pittsburgh's departments & authorities. Our role in City government is clearly defined by the Home Rule Charter as an independent watchdog of Pittsburgh's spending practices. We issue the Annual Financial Report (honored by the GFOA for the past 15 years), performance & fiscal audits, inspect City purchases & construction jobs, and verify City inventory. Last year, the Office reviewed & approved 655 City contracts and issued 48,000 payments. Doug Shields (no answer) Mike Dawida The City Controller operates in accordance with the City Home Rule Charter & is responsible for being the watchdog over Pittsburgh City government as well the City public school system. Most people are aware of the Controller's responsibility over financial issues, but perhaps as important is its role in auditing virtually all the services connected with the City government & its various Boards, Commissions & Authorities. Audits fall into 2 basic categories. The most common is a fiscal audit which determines if money is being properly spent. The second is performance which attempts to determine the value & benefit of the service provided. Mike Lamb The City Controller is an independently elected official and is the auditing arm of city government. The City Controller is charged with conducting financial audits and performance audits of every department in city government to make sure there is no waste, fraud or abuse of taxpayer dollars. As City Controller, I will make sure Pittsburghers are getting a fair return for their tax dollars and a fair share of city services in their neighborhoods. Question 2: What actions will you offer, as Controller, that would convince people at or near the poverty level to vote for you? Tony Pokora I'm a mill worker's son, raised with my two brothers and sister on the South Side slopes, which to this day is still a blue-collar community. I was brought up being provided with the necessities and not much extra. So I understand what it's like to have to work for a better way of life. As a public official, I believe that local government has to be responsive to those who need a helping hand. Locally, we have to ensure that the CDBG funds the City has traditionally committed to pantries and soup kitchens remain at a meaningful level, that we support the Farmer's Market programs, and that low income neighborhoods are served by a community food outlet. We have to work with other levels of local government to provide essential services, such as housing with HACP, public education with the School district, social & human services with the County, and CHIP & WIC with the State. We also have to involve the private sector, particularly in providing incentives for affordable low and mixed income residential housing. We also have to look at ways to better partner with the private social agencies such as Just Harvest that do so much for so many here. Doug Shields There's an old adage that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If we look at the City of Pittsburgh as a whole, it logically follows that what's good for the city should be good for all the people of Pittsburgh. When the late Mayor Bob O'Connor ran for office in 2005, close to 70% of Pittsburghers felt that the city was headed in the wrong direction. The same pollster found that half of the people polled had changed their minds by early 2007. I am proud to be part of the team that put Pittsburgh back on the right track, and I am running for Controller to make sure we keep moving forward. In my 15 years of public service, I have always put the people of Pittsburgh first. Identifying legislative measures and revenue streams that benefit those with lesser resources has always been a priority. Examples include: giving consumers choice in purchasing natural gas; increasing by $100,000 funds available for community development organizations to fight blight; supporting the Pittsburgh Promise initiative to give all students the opportunity to attend college; and consistently advocating for funding groups that address hunger and other needs relating to poverty. Mike Dawida People at or near the poverty level should expect City & School district services to be available in their neighborhoods & families in the same way as more wealthy people & communities receive them. I will, as Controller, use the performance audit aggressively to make sure that City public safety issues are addressed properly in poorer communities & that all citizens have access to all city services. Fiscal audits primarily deal with purely financial issues, but the performance audits get into the how & why things work or sometimes don't work. My entire career has been measured by making sure that those who have less are still heard. Something that has not been effective in the past is the role the Controller plays in the running of the Pgh. public schools. This is particularly important for people without money because they can not afford usually to attend private schools. I will be an aggressive watchdog for the rights & needs of our students. Lastly, people can expect the highest level of integrity & honesty from me as Controller watching over the people's money. Mike Lamb My experience as a public administrator has been in working to improve public service under shrinking budget pressure. When I started in the Prothonotary's office we had 135 employees. We have about half that today and yet our service has improved significantly. We transformed that office from a 19th century manual record keeping office into the most technologically advanced court recording office in the Commonwealth and we became a model for court systems around the world. The controller's office is under similar stress. The city's shrinking resources and other factors have left the office incapable of completing even its most basic mandated functions. It is an environment with which I am very familiar. I have shown that government can do more with less, and the Controller's office can be the information and financial resource it is intended to be through the introduction of innovation, hard work and a willingness to change. As Controller, I will bring the change necessary to the Controller's office that will make sure Pittsburghers are getting a fair return for their tax dollars and that Pittsburghers are getting their fair share of city services in their neighborhood. category:Planks_from_elsewhere